‘How does a building just fall?’ Neighbours grieve after Brooklyn building collapse

Over the loud noise of her radio, Ann Marie did not hear the sound of the Brooklyn building behind her home collapse on Thursday night, but she soon saw the flashing lights of fire department trucks rushing to the scene.

When she made her way out to the wreckage, workers were still searching for bodies. One of the building’s walls had torn off, exposing the inside of several apartment homes, and the rubble had collapsed into a construction site next door.

At least eight of her neighbours died in the accident – six adults and two children, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said.

“Right now, I’m really scared,” Marie told the BBC. “Now that I’m seeing exactly this side of the building, you can imagine the fright of those people, what happened to them.”

On Thursday afternoon, Mamdani said he had visited survivors in hospital. Eighteen people were injured, including four firefighters. One person is in critical condition.

“I want to take a moment to remember those we have so senselessly lost,” Mamdani added. “These were our friends and our neighbours, parents and children, young families building their lives in our city, immigrants from Mexico, Colombia, Trinidad and beyond.”